Webcams, the next step?

Discussion in 'The Lounge - Off Topic' started by flex22, Aug 14, 2003.

  1. flex22

    flex22 Gigabyte Poster

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    I don't know about you but my index fingers nerve endings have all but gone with all this typing I do.

    While I was out before I started to think how useful webcams are.

    Online chatting in realtime is good but to be honest I'm so busy furiously typing, I miss half of the conversation.

    Can you imagine how good an online conference would be.

    You could work on study problems in real time and go over topics, just like a classroom.

    To be honest, I don't know why this has only occured to me now but I thought I'd ask what you guys think of webcams.

    I myself know very little about them.I'm not sure what kind of quality you get out of them but I suppose they get better as technology moves on.

    So, what do you think of webcams?

    Do you think they're the future, rather than realtime chat?

    Or do you prefer typing out your messages to be seen by others whenever they get to them?
     
  2. Nelix
    Honorary Member

    Nelix Gigabyte Poster

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    I dont think that webcams will ever totally replace the good old 'typeing method' of conversation, however i do like the idea of real time conversation/conferences, the only drawback is that not everyone has a webcam and the qualityfor those on slow dialup connections is not good at all.

    However those of us with a 1Mbit connection would be fine :wink:
     
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  3. SimonV
    Honorary Member

    SimonV Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    The idea of webcams is great, being able to see the person your communicating with is such an amazing step in communication. But as Nelix pointed out the communication networks here in the UK just have not moved quick enough to provide enough high speed access to all areas and at a low enough price. For those of us lucky enough to be in an area that has fast internet speeds that thought of communication via the use of web cams is amazing.

    I have done this in the past with a friend that moved away to belgium that had fast internet and we had a go at setting up communicating via the net. We only used the basics first of all with MSNetmeeting, speakers and microphones and that was great to be able to speak without the thought of the phone bill. After that initial communication we tried other things such as remote desktop agian only using MSnetmeeting and with success I helped out my friend install a certain piece of software he was having trouble with.

    The software is here for us to use and some of its free, but the only thing thats missing is the comminication networks to run the stuff on. If and when the UK gets upto speed with this issue I'm excited at the thought of intergrating more technology such as webcams and remote control software. Lets hope we dont have to wait too long.

    SimonV :D
     
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  4. Sandy

    Sandy Ex-Member

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    As far as the exams go your really need to spend time with the software.

    In work we use Video confrencing via IP it works well (well saves me a drive to Newcastle once in a while) but we still have national meetings twice a year. As usual you get more work done in the bar after the meeting :!: :!: :!:
     
  5. Jakamoko
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    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    So its back to the notion of a virtual bar, then :?:

    Hey, Si - is this placed licenced yet :P :morebeer
     
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  6. flex22

    flex22 Gigabyte Poster

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    Nelix said: I don't think webcams will ever replace the good old "typing method" of conversation.

    Really.
    I don't know about webcams replacing typing but I certainly think typing will someday be surpassed.People will probably all use a voice recognition device to type words into the screen.

    Of course, this is still the "typing method" but I think people will opt out of typing if given the choice.

    I can imagine that we will soon have animated avatars.We will probably speak our message into a device and then get the animated avatars to speak our messages either with our voice or a voice of our choice.
    (watching an animated ardvark explain IRQ settings, there's a thought)

    I just think there'll be all sorts of advances, especially when IPv6 and increased bandwidth is the norm.

    Reading a message at your own pace is still the best way but I think you can never say never because think of what's available now compared to just a few years ago.

    Seeing and taking in information in different forms keeps in interesting and lively.
     

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